Belle McKaye and the Castle of Magic
by rogueofstorms
Summary: A girl named Belle receives her Hogwarts letter on her eleventh birthday in July of 2000. Only two years after the Battle of Hogwarts, this muggleborn child struggles to fit in in a world that is still reeling from the events and aftermath of the Second Wizarding War. When she finally makes a friend, things start to look up.
1. The Boy on the Playground

The playground was empty at this evening hour as a young boy wandered into it. He seemed bored, if the way he was kicking at the woodchips was any indicator, but was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice that someone else was there too.

The girl had been sitting on top of the swingset for a few hours at this point, lost in her book. Wisps of dark hair fell around her face, kept out of her eyes by a pair of glasses. The sound of the woodchips pulled her from the realm of Tortall, and now she was studying the intruding boy. He was about her age, or possibly older going by his height, with short blond hair and his own pair of glasses perching on his nose. Heavy black hiking boots were partially hidden underneath a pair of dark jeans and a t-shirt that looked like it had seen better days. The girl had never had a visitor in the evenings at this playground before, and was now trying to guess at what could have driven the boy out at this hour.

The boy didn't even look up as he sat on one of the swings and swung a little before stopping. Tucking her book into her backpack, the girl lay herself across the top bar and poked her head down towards the boy.

"Are you just going to sit there all night?" she asked, her ponytail falling over her shoulder.

The boy looked up, startled. "How'd you get up there?"

Instead of answering, the girl just pointed to the chains of the swings. After all, if she'd been clever enough to make her way up, surely everyone else could too. A moment's thought before the boy began climbing, twisting the chains to make a sort of foothold while his hands sought better purchase. Her hideaway now ruined by the presence of another, the girl clambered down another swing's chains, jumping to the ground when she was close enough. She shrugged and started to walk away, unintersted in another person.

"Hey wait!" said the boy. The girl paused.

"Why?"

The boy thought for a moment. "Wanna play?"

"Can't," the girl replied. "My foster parents will be mad if I don't get home soon." She adjusted her bag and continued walking. The boy ran after her, planting himself in front of the gate in the fence.

"Where do you live?"

"Just over there," she waved towards the setting sun.

"I'll walk with you!" the boy said brightly. The girl didn't know how to respond – a boy had never really wanted to play with her before.

"Alright, I guess." They walked in silence for a bit, rounding the corner of the street into a small neighborhood development where a woman's voice filled the air.

"Belle!" The voice was high and tinny, the sort of voice that made children want to cover their ears when it screamed, as it was now. "Belle Rowena McKaye! Get back here RIGHT NOW!"

Belle looked at the boy standing next to her and grimaced. "Sorry," she said. "Guess I stayed out too late after all." She frowned, wishing she didn't have to go home to shouting foster parents, and foster siblings who tried to steal her stuff.

"Are you always out there?" the boy asked.

"Usually, yeah. Why?"

"I'm James. See you tomorrow?"

"Um, okay, I guess-"

"BELLE! Get your butt back inside this instant!" her foster mother yelled out. Belle nodded to James and ran for the front door, pausing only to say "Hi Miss Pearce" on her way in. Once inside, Belle sprinted for her room and locked the door behind her. The lock was a new thing, added when Belle's social worker had said that either Miss Pearce could add locks to give the children privacy, or lose the government stipend she received every month.

Belle was never more grateful for the lock than she was today. "Wish I'd had this last year," she said to herself. Tomorrow was her birthday, and nothing was going to ruin the rest of the night for her if she could help it. Dinner an hour later was thankfully silent, and Belle immediately locked herself back in her room when she was done putting her dishes away. It wasn't that she didn't like her life here in London, but she missed her real parents and how they had always encouraged her to learn and be curious. With no school the next day, Belle decided to stay awake until midnight, reading her book until the clock ticked over to the 25th of July.

_Today's my birthday_, she thought. _Eleven years old, and everything sucks._ She made a wish as the clock changed, the same wish she made every year: _I wish that magic and dragons and all the stuff I read about were real._ Belle fell asleep only minutes later.


	2. Mail for Belle

Summer meant no school, no excuses to teachers about why her homework looked chewed on, or was missing. It meant spending her day in the library or at a sibling's friend's house – all of Belle's friends were too far away, and she'd never quite gotten the hang of making new ones. Summer also meant remembering the events of three years ago, when her dad had been called back to England from the British embassy in America. When mom and dad went out one night with friends and never came back. One of those friends had housed Belle for nearly a month while social services figured out what to do with her, eventually fostering her out to a family in Stafford. Not even four months later she was moved into a family in Bath, where she spent a whole year and a half, and then she was fostered with Miss Pearce, who seemed to enjoy the government stipend a little too much.

Two other foster children, plus Miss Pearce's own teenager, made the house almost unbearable for a child who was barely even British to begin with. Belle spent as much time as she could out of the house, and escaped into fantasy books when that wasn't an option. Today, Belle took her summer maths homework to the library with her.

She was glad to see that the other local children had not arrived yet, which meant the library only had staff and a few of the elderly around to make noises. The local kids had never quite seemed to grasp that silence was a key part of the library experience, a fact which made Belle want to throw books at the little bastards. She found her favourite chair tucked away in the fantasy stacks and claimed it for her own.

Hours later, the librarian came by. "We're closing in five, Belle," the woman said.

"Okay," replied Belle. Belle grabbed the third book in the series – books one and two had already been read cover to cover – and walked it up to the counter to check out. Times like this she missed the small library that she had started when she lived in the States; her dad had sold the books when they moved, as it would have been too expensive to ship them over to England. Considering the other children she lived with, though, reminded Belle that it was probably for the better that she no longer had her books, as her foster siblings would likely have destroyed more than half of them by now.

The pale girl stopped by the playground on her way home, hoping to see her new friend. A quick walk through the swings and the play structure showed that he was nowhere in sight. Aw man, Belle thought, I thought he said he would be here today. I wanted to tell him that it's my birthday! Instead of reading on the structure like she usually did, Belle decided to head straight home. Suddenly, reading on the playground wasn't as fun if James couldn't be there too.

The only interesting thing about that Tuesday - aside from being Belle's birthday - was the mail. She had a game where she would try to guess what was inside the envelope by holding it up to the light in the kitchen. Sometimes it was easy, a fake credit card application or a spam letter claiming that not sending it to ten people would curse you forever. The hard ones were letters that she always tried to find after Miss Pearce had opened them - the letters sent in those special envelopes with blue printing inside so that people couldn't see the contents.

But Belle had never seen a letter like this one before. She was so entranced by it that she didn't notice the strange woman sitting at the kitchen table. It was thick and heavy and slightly yellow, with the most brilliant emerald green ink on the front and back. The envelope smelled of old books, and the slightly musty smell of the spice cabinet. Even more interestingly, it was addressed to Belle! The front of the envelope read:

**_Miss Belle Rowena McKaye_**  
**_The Second-Smallest Bedroom_**  
**_13 Razorcrest Lane_**  
**_Stoke Newington,_**  
**_Hackney_**

When Belle flipped the envelope over, the back read simply _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry_. It never crossed her mind that this could be a prank. After all, she reasoned hadn't she just wished for magic to be real last night? Obviously this was the answer to her wish. Belle tore the envelope open, eager to read the rest of her letter. She never got mail.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_  
_Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall_

Dear Miss McKaye,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your response by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,  
_Minerva McGonagall_  
Headmistress

Belle put aside the first piece of the odd paper and continued reading to the mentioned book list.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

UNIFORM  
First-year students will require:  
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)  
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:  
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk  
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch  
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore  
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander  
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT  
1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS  
ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

Yours sincerely,  
_Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus_  
Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions

Belle quickly skimmed both pages again to make sure that she had read correctly. A school for witchcraft? Students requiring a wand and a pointy hat? Belle started to think that Tuesday might be her favourite day ever.

A rustle of cloth nearby attracted Belle's attention, finally. A strange woman sat in one of the kitchen chairs, a look of faint amusement on her face leftover from watching Belle read the letter. The woman looked like what Belle imagined you'd get if you personified milk chocolate, and then had that person wear honey-coloured witch's robes. The stranger looked dignified sitting at the table, and more than willing to wait until Belle had quite finished with the letter.

"Hello, Miss McKaye," the woman said. "My name is Aurora Sinistra, though you would do well to call me Professor Sinistra. I teach Astronomy at the Hogwarts school."

"So it does exist?" Belle asked.

Sinistra nodded. "You have been invited to come to school. Now, it is a boarding school-"

"So I won't have to come home if I don't want to? Brilliant!"

The professor laughed and nodded, filing that away for her post-visit meeting with the Headmistress.

"Speaking of home," the professor continued, "where is your mother?"

"You mean my foster-mother?" Belle checked the kitchen clock - 4:45PM. "She's on her way home from picking the others up from camp and daycare."

"Good. I shall need to speak to her regarding your schooling and about picking up your school supplies before the first of September. Why don't you run along and play or read a good book, and I will come find you once your mother and I have finished speaking."

Belle nodded her agreement and nearly bounced up the stairs, still clutching the letter to her chest. In her room, the girl sat on her bed and reread the letter and booklist thrice before finally deciding that she ought to look through her books for tips. And maybe figure out which to bring with her to school.

Nearly an hour later, Belle sat on her bed surrounded by the fifty or so books she had managed to purchase for herself with chore money in the last few years. She was currently reading a Circle of Magic book - a series about a group of four kids who discover they have magic. According to her So you want to be a Wizard book, you ought to have a wand, which matched up with the supply list for Hogwarts, but those books were about kids in the real world. Belle wanted books about a world that was only magic.

A knock on the door preceeded Professor Sinistra and Miss Pearce into Belle's room.

"Belle, we'd like you to come downstairs," Miss Pearce said. Belle put her book down, bounced off her bed, and nearly slid down the stairs in her rush to hear more about this school for witches and wizards.


	3. Diagon Alley

Once downstairs and settled at the kitchen table with Miss Pearce, Professor Sinistra explained that Belle would indeed be attending Hogwarts, and that she need not worry about the fee of attending or her textbooks and supplies. Apparently, as a ward of the state - a wardship that would soon be transferred to the magical community so as to avoid misunderstandings with the muggles - as a ward of the state, it was therefore the state's duty to pay for Belle's schooling and supplies, with the expectation that she would repay it by becoming a functioning member of society.

"What do you mean by trans...transferred?" Belle asked.

Sinistra looked at Belle, not expecting the question so soon. "It means that the same way that the state has a foster care system, so too does the magical side of the country. Ours works differently however, and after the events of recent years it was decided that magical children ought to only be fostered or adopted by other magical folk, so as to prevent a similar set of situations from occurring again. I am sure that you will learn about these recent events during your time at Hogwarts. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to avoid it!" The professor smiled at Belle, inviting her to share the little joke. Belle smiled faintly, not sure she understood completely.

"So, you mean I won't be coming back here?"

"No, my dear. You will be placed with a magical family on your return from Hogwarts for the summer holidays."

"Oh. That sounds wicked!" Belle grinned in full now, excited to discover what living with other witches and wizards would be like.

"Now, I've already discussed all this with your foster mother, who assures me that while she will miss you, she will find a way to move forward with her life." Belle snorted at this, knowing full well that Miss Pearce would likely be pleased to have one less mouth to feed and watch over.

Professor Sinistra continued, pretending not to notice Belle's scorn. "In precisely one month, I will return to this address to collect you and we will go to Diagon Alley to purchase and pick up your school supplies. You will not be allowed to practice or perform magic outside of school. Also, while you are in theory allowed to bring a pet, I strongly urge you to consider carefully. A pet is a big responsibility, and you will be responsible for its care beyond the basics of food and water. So think carefully, and be sure that a pet is something you can handle before you decide to bring one to school with you, okay?"

Belle nodded, trying to absorb as much of this information as she could.

"Miss Pearce, Belle," Sinistra stood from her place at the table. "I shall see you both again in one month's time. I have other new students to see to this afternoon. Good evening." The professor walked out the front door and stepped into a car with a strange logo on the doors. The car had not even pulled away from the row by the time Belle was back upstairs, firmly ensconced in her room.

~xxxxxxxxxxxxxx~

August the 25th, only one week before the start of term at Hogwarts, dawned perfect for London. Which is to say, cloudy with a hint of rain later in the afternoon, only the faded bluish sunlight illuminating Razorcrest Lane. Belle loved it when the day started like this - not only because those days of full sunlight hurt her eyes, but because the quality of light made everything seem more real than ever. The grass, shrubs, and trees in her neighbourhood were especially her favourite, looking more green than she ever thought possible, a glorious mixing of emerald, forest, and olive tones. Belle decided that her favourite colour today was going to be that precise shade of green - the green of leaves on a day promising rain.

Belle had woken with the dim sunlight, so eager to be making her first trip to the wizarding world that she couldn't sleep any longer. The calendar on her wall had little red diagonal lines through the days, crossing them off until the start of term on September 1st. The brunette pulled out her Hogwarts letter again, the thicker paper starting to crumple now from having been read so much over the past month. Soon, Belle would have a whole collection of textbooks from which to read; she only hoped she could make her way through most of them before the train left in a week.

The clock read 07:01. Belle sighed in disgust - the professor likely was not going to show for at least two more hours. Belle put the letter down on her nightstand carefully, not wanting to accidentally ruin her only piece of wizardry so far, and shambled her way downstairs to make herself breakfast. She didn't feel like attempting eggs, last time she had nearly started an egg-scented fire in the kitchen, so instead the girl hopped up on the counter to open the overhead cupboard. Belle pulled out a dry breakfast cereal, poured herself a glass of milk, and sat down to eat while continuing her book from yesterday.

Two hours later, Belle was still at the kitchen table, her cereal forgotten and her glass empty. She didn't even notice when the doorbell rang the first time, so wrapped up was she in her fantasy novel. When it rang the second time, Belle looked up in annoyance and was surprised to notice her foster-siblings also seated at the table with her, and Miss Pearce on her way to answer the door.

"Coming!" called Miss Pearce to the person outside. She opened the door to reveal Professor Sinistra, this time wearing a deep russet red set of robes, although the matching hat was currently held in her hands so as not to attract the neighbours' attentions.

"Good morning, Miss Pearce," said the professor.

"Good morning, Aurora," replied Miss Pearce. "Here to collect Belle, I assume?"

"Indeed I am." The professor noticed Belle leaning into the hallway to listen and turned to the child. "Miss McKaye, perhaps it would be appropriate to be wearing something not-pyjamas to Diagon Alley, yes?"

Belle flushed as she looked down at her cloud-pattern pyjamas and rushed upstairs to change into proper clothes, slipping on a stair near the top in her rush. Belle recovered quickly and fled into her room, changing into a pair of jeans and a blue shirt that read "I'm reading, go away" on the front. She tore down the stairs in slightly less of a rush, not wanting to slide down the wooden runs so early in the day.

"Ready!" she announced to the front hall.

"Excellent, Miss McKaye. Let us be off, then. Goodbye, Miss Pearce," Professor Sinistra said as she stepped out the door.

"Bye Miss Pearce, everybody!" said Belle. Once outside, the car that Belle had seen one month ago was waiting in the street. Belle followed Sinistra's lead and stepped into the back seat of the car, amazed at how much bigger it seemed now that she was inside it.

"The car is enchanted slightly," the professor told Belle. "It helps when we have foreign dignitaries visiting. Now, normally witches and wizards take the Floo into the Leaky Cauldron, the primary entrance to Diagon Alley."

"The Floo?" interrupted Belle.

"A means of travel in which you throw a special powder into an activated fireplace, shout the name of your destination, and thereby travel to the receiving fireplace at the other end. Now, as I was saying, normally we would enter that way, but connecting a muggle house to the Floo network requires entirely too much paperwork, especially once you consider that we would have to undo all that work at the end of the day. So today we shall go by car into London proper to the Leaky Cauldron, and thence to shop for your school things. Do you have any other questions for me, Miss McKaye?"

Belle shook her head and turned to watch out the windows, wishing desperately that she had thought to bring a book with her to ease the boredom. Instead, Belle drifted off, only coming to when Professor Sinistra lightly shook Belle's shoulder to wake her.

"We are near the Leaky Cauldron, my dear. How are you feeling?" Sinistra asked.

"Excited! I can't wait to see this, professor!"

Sinistra smiled at Belle. "That's wonderful Belle."

The car pulled up to the entrance of the Cauldron and Sinistra led her charge from the car and into the pub. Belle had never been allowed in a pub and looked around with interest. It seemed quiet, with only a few people scattered around a room that looked like it could have been busier. Ancient wooden beams held up the ceiling, or seemed to, and the fireplace was lit despite the summer weather outdoors. Professor Sinistra said hello to the barkeep on their way through, and gently tugged Belle out the back door into the alley. Belle looked around in confusion. A few rubbish bins were near the side walls, and the only visible exit was the way they had just come.

"Um, Professor?" Belle asked.

"Yes, Miss McKaye?"

"Are you sure we're in the right place?"

"Absolutely, my dear. Watch, but you won't need to remember this for a few years yet, I think." Professor Sinistra took out her wand and tapped some of the bricks on the back wall in a pattern, causing them to pull away from each other and turn inwards. The rest of the wall soon followed, creating a wonderful brick archway into a bustling street filled with shops. Signs hung out over the street with wonderfully moving paintings that demonstrated what was meant to be sold inside, although it was hard to see through any shop windows because of the crowd. It smelled like old books, strange spices, and a faint hint of burnt metal which made Belle crinkle her nose a bit at first. By far the shop that stood out the most, though, was one with a giant jack-in-the-box over the door. Bright colours and a huge grin on the jack seemed to make it clear that this was a shop for people to have fun with.

Professor Sinistra noticed Belle's look at the joke shop and smiled a bit herself. "That's Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes my dear. Once you are placed with a new family I expect you will start receiving a small allowance for you to spend as you wish, even in Wheezes. Until then, do try to keep up, we have a lot of ground to cover today."

"Yes, ma'am," replied Belle. They walked down a few shops to one that was labelled 'Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions' and Sinistra pushed Belle in ahead of her. The eponymous owner of the shop came out from behind the counter and looked Belle over before turning to the professor.

"Another one for Hogwarts, then?" Madam Malkin asked.

"Indeed," said Professor Sinistra. She turned to Belle. "Belle, just step up onto that little platform, and try not to move as Madam Malkin gets your measured for your robes."

Belle nodded and stepped up only to be immediately accosted by a pair of measuring tapes that appeared to have minds of their own. The pair unrolled and whirled around Belle, who tried very hard not to follow them with her eyes after Malkin reprimanded her for doing so.

"Go ahead and step down, dear," Madam Malkin told Belle. "You can pick up the robes in the evening, I expect you will still be in Diagon until then." Belle hopped off the short platform and back to Professor Sinistra.

From the robe shop it was off to the apothecary to pick up Belle's potions supplies, then to the cauldron shop across the cobbled street. Belle had to be held back from touching some of the potions ingredients at the apothecary's but had no such problem with the cauldrons. She considered the lot of them to be boring, not understanding why someone would want a cauldron made of gold or flawed diamond or even wood. The real trouble came when the Professor brought Belle to Flourish & Blott's, the local textbook seller.

The shop was filled from floor to ceiling with rows and rows of books. Books that screamed if you touched them, books that smelled like their titles ("Flowers of South America and Their Meanings" read one), books that looked normal until you opened them and the words shifted and slid around the page, unwilling to be read. Belle had never seen so many outside of a library, and certainly not books that were this interesting. Professor Sinistra came back from the counter and collected Belle.

"Miss McKaye, come along, we must purchase your books," Sinistra said. Belle did not respond, instead content to gape at the collection. Sinistra muttered something underneath her breath that sounded like "raven claws", and Belle briefly wondered if that something that a witch used to make books magical on the outside like these. The professor kept hold of Belle until she was finished acquiring the textbooks that Belle would need for her first year, and had to almost drag the child out of Flourish & Blott's so that they could get to Ollivander's.

Belle did not like Ollivander's Wands at all. The shop was dim and gave Belle a creepy feeling that was not helped by Ollivander's appearance at the counter. Scraggly white hair was kept long around a face might once have been sharp, but now seemed sallow and sagging with age. His gray eyes seemed to see through everything and everyone, and Belle was very glad to have Professor Sinistra with her, else she might have left the shop just to get out from under that gaze.

"Ah, Aurora, it has been a while indeed. Cedar and unicorn hair, if memory serves." Ollivander's voice rasped like dry leaves on a street, startling Belle, who had been looking at the many boxes that lined the walls of the small shop.

"It has done well by me," Sinistra replied. "But I am here to assist Belle McKaye in getting her first wand. She will be starting at Hogwarts next week."

"Ah. I see." Ollivander came out from behind the counter and walked a slow circle around Belle, as though sizing her up for a meal. Belle fidgeted, unwilling to move away and betray her discomfort so easily but also unwilling to be so near to the strange wizard. The wandmaker moved away from Belle and into the stacks, pulling boxes seemingly at random from the shelves. He returned to the counter with a stack and pulled the first box from the top. Ollivander walked over to Belle and handed her a wand.

"Acacia and unicorn hair, nine and three quarter inches," he told Belle. "Give it a wave, Belle."

Belle felt silly doing this in front of adults - she had only ever pretended to have a wand at home. The acacia wand felt odd to her, and apparently the wand agreed, for it broke a window pane in the front window when Belle waved it around. Ollivander took the wand back and moved that box and three other out of the way before handing her another.

"Walnut, dragon heartstring, fourteen and one eighth inches." Belle waved the wand, which caused Professor Sinistra to hover in the air briefly before Ollivander took the wand from Belle.

"Not that one either," he said. "Try this: poplar with phoenix feather, twelve and one quarter inches." Again Belle waved the wand, starting to wonder if there was something wrong with her that the wandmaker wasn't able to match her to a wand. Boxes flew from the shelves and spun in a circle before falling to the floor.

"No, no. Close though, I think. Hmmm. I have one that I have not been able to match for a long while. Perhaps it will choose you, Miss McKaye." Ollivander abandoned the stack of boxes he had brought out and disappeared into the back of the store. Belle began to fidget again.

"I'm sorry for being so difficult," Belle said to Professor Sinistra.

"Nonsense, Miss McKaye. The wand chooses the wizard, as Mr Ollivander is fond of saying, and if we bought the wrong wand for you, who know how bad the results would be," Sinistra reassured Belle.

Ollivander returned to the front of the store with a box that had a thick layer of dust over it.

"My father was asked to make this wand by a contemporary of his," Ollivander said. "If it had not been such a close friend, I believe my father would have refused. The wand did not agree with the wizard, and so we kept it against the day that perhaps it would choose someone else." He pulled the wand from the box and handed it to Belle.

"Padauk wood, with a core of porcupine quill. Thirteen inches. Go on, give it a wave."

Belle waved the wand, which produced purple and silver sparks from the very tip.

"Very good," said Ollivander. "About time, too. I see we will have to be careful not to introduce you to fire spells too soon." He turned to Professor Sinistra and raised an eyebrow.

"She is a ward of the state, Mr Ollivander. I expect the Ministry will be wanting the bill, same as everyone else." Sinistra took Belle's hand and walked from the shop with her.

"We shall pick up your robes from Madam Malkin's and then return you home with your school things," the professor told Belle once they were outside. "Now that you have a wand, it is deeply important that you understand that no magic is to used outside of school, period. It will be tempting, I know, but please at least refrain until you are on the train and making new school friends. Understood?"

Belle nodded.

"Miss McKaye, I want you to promise me that you will not use magic until the start of term." Professor Sinistra looked more stern than Belle had yet seen her.

"I promise, Professor."

The rest of the trip to Diagon Alley was exceedingly dull, and consisted of Belle and Professor Sinistra collecting the remaining school things and robes, which they packed into a second-hand trunk they had picked up. All too soon for Belle, she was back in the car with the Professor and her things, on her way back home. Belle brightened when she realised that the Professor had said nothing about reading or not reading the textbooks. After all, it was only one week - surely Belle could manage until then.


End file.
